PORT ANGELES — In the blink of an eye, the Port Angeles girls basketball team took a stranglehold on the Olympic League race.
Riding by a 12-1 run to close out the first half, including an 8-0 surge in the final minute of the second quarter, the Roughriders claimed the league’s de facto championship game against the Kingston Buccaneers 47-37 on Tuesday night.
Jessica Madison scored 16 points to lead a trio of Riders in double figures, Kiah Jones harassed Kingston’s Sophia Baetz into just nine points on the night and Skylar Jones sank all six of her free throws down the stretch as Port Angeles swept the season series from the Buccaneers for very first time.
“In the four years that I’ve played, we’ve never beat Kingston twice,” said Skylar Jones, who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
“It feels amazing, because they are a very good team. They have a lot of girls who can shoot the ball and play really tough defense.
“It shows if we can go out and compete and keep our composure against them, then we can do it against anybody.”
The Riders (11-0 in league, 13-2 overall) won just about every battle they needed to on Tuesday night: rebounding (39-27), free-throw shooting (20-of-25 to 6-of-11) and, of course, the much-anticipated matchup between Madison and Baetz (16 points to 9).
Part of the credit for that has to go to Kiah Jones, who gave Baetz little room to breath while defending her the majority of the game.
The result was a poor shooting night for the Buccaneers’ explosive guard (3-of-12 from the field) that included an 0-for-6 performance from the 3-point line.
Baetz torched the Riders for 35 the last time the two teams played, a 56-54 Port Angeles road win.
“My plan was to make sure I always had a hand up, and make sure that she couldn’t get off the 3 without having pressure on her,” Kiah said.
“It just makes everyone feel good in general [to hold Baetz to 9] because her having 35 last game . . . we know that we stepped up our defense and are really improving.”
Added Port Angeles coach Mike Knowles, “She was awesome. Her job was stay with her, and she did it. She’s got the height and she’s got the foot speed, and Sophia was getting frustrated. It’s hard to shoot over 6-foot.”
Port Angeles switched between zone and man defense throughout the game, sticking mostly to man in the second half.
Kingston (8-2, 9-5) didn’t have an answer for either, sinking just 29 percent of its field-goal attempts (15-of-52) while also turning the ball over 15 times.
The Buccaneers went into a particular funk during the final three minutes of the second quarter, scoring just one point.
Madison caught fire on the other end, dropping in eight of the Riders’ 12 points during that time frame, including a 3-pointer with 3 seconds to go that gave Port Angeles a 27-15 lead at the break.
Kingston got as close as nine points twice in the second half.
The first time, Alison Knowles answered with a 3-pointer from the wing, part of a 10-point night.
The second time, at 37-28 20 seconds into the fourth quarter, Madison buried a 10-foot jumper on the baseline.
Port Angeles then closed out the game making all eight of its free throws in the fourth quarter, led by Skylar Jones’ 6-of-6 showing.
That, along with the team’s strong defensive effort, helped Port Angeles weather a poor shooting night from the field (12-of-44) and 19 turnovers.
Taylyn Jeffers added eight points and nine rebounds for Port Angeles. Baetz’s nine points led all Buccaneer scorers.
“We forced some passes we probably shouldn’t have, but we hit free throws down the stretch,” Knowles said. “For us it was a great learning experience.”
Now, the only thing standing in the way of the Riders’ third straight league title are four teams they’ve already blown out the first time around.
“The only way we won’t be league champs is if we go out and lose to somebody we’ve already beaten by 30,” Knowles said. “Right now we’re preparing to play that crossover game, so every game they go on the floor, that’s what we’re playing for.
“For us to lose the league championship . . . I don’t know, it’s going to be tough. We’d have to really fall apart, but I don’t think we will. The kids are together.”
Port Angeles 47, Kingston 37
Kingston 7 8 11 11 — 37
Port Angeles 7 20 10 10 — 47
Individual Scoring
Kingston (37)
L. Wicklein 6, Carper 2, Baetz 9, Hart 1, L. Wicklein 6, Sander 7, Brown 6.
Port Angeles (47)
K. Jones 1, Knowles 10, Reid 2, S. Jones 10, Madison 16, Jeffers 8.